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Teens with Type 1 Diabetes prefer use Insulin pumps as part of treating the disease but an FDA study shows the device has been linked to injuries and a few deaths. Although, the FDA is not saying the teens with juvenile diabetes should not be provided the insulin pump.  Insulin pumps can help make life more manageable. Parents need to be keeping a close eye on their children’s devices and understand that the machine is not infallible.Problems observed in the study were not taking care of the pump or dropping them. Also it is believed that there is simply a lack of education because teen weren’t sure on the correct use. 

With the proper care the pumps can be a part of normal teen life for diabetes patients. Up to 100,000 teens may already be using the machine that costs about $6,000 with supplies running at $250 a month.

Insulin pumps are used for Type 1 diabetes. Between 5 and 10 percent of all diabetic cases are Type 1 which is also known as juvenile diabetes. The pumps are small, the size of a cell phone, and worn on a belt or carried in a pocket. Through a plastic tube that is inserted under the skin insulin is carried into the body. The user tells the machine how much insulin to give prior to each meal based on the estimated carbs they are eating. There are also devices designed to give a constant low level flow of insulin.

Even with the pump patients must check sugar levels, because one of the problems that has been observed is a blocked tube that can quickly cause an episode of high blood sugar. “In a matter of a few hours, all the insulin in the body disappears,” said Dr. John Buse, the American Diabetes Association’s president for medicine and science. “Metabolically, the child starts to spiral out of control.

Although there are some problems with the insulin pump it has quickly become a vital part of diabetic treatment for teens.  Teens need to be aware of these risks.

Arthritis causes joint pain and more than half of  adult diabetics in the United States have it.  Arthritis pain may prevent diabetics to exercise they way they should in order to stay healthy, a study reported.The study was done by the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention it found that almost 30 percent of people with both conditions were inactive, compared with 21 percent with diabetes alone and 17 percent with arthritis alone. Only 11 percent of adults with neither condition were inactive.

Only 46 million adults in the United States have arthritis and 21 million have diabetes, according to the CDC. Exercise helps control blood sugar, blood pressure and body weight, which are especially important in people with diabetes, the CDC said. Regular activity reduces the risk of heart disease and nerve damage in diabetics and strengthens arthritic joints.

“These findings suggest more needs to be done to help people with diabetes and arthritis get physically active to improve their health,” Chad Helmick, a CDC epidemiologist and co-author of the study, said in a statement. “Regular physical activity and maintaining a healthy weight can help alleviate the pain and disability that often accompany arthritis.”

People with arthritis should consider exercises that don’t stress their joints, including swimming, walking and bicycling, the CDC said.

An international study has confirmed that a pregnant women with even slightly higher than normal blood sugar levels are at increased risk for a range of pregnancy and delivery-related complications. This study will appear in the May 8 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine. The large study examined the risks associated with having elevated blood sugar during pregnancy that is not high enough to be considered gestational diabetes. More than 25,000 pregnant women from nine countries took part in the study.

It was founded in the study that even a small rise in blood sugar above what is considered normal was associated with an increase in adverse outcomes. These included high birth weight, C-section delivery, and preeclampsia, a complication that can lead to premature birth and can be deadly if not treated.

One of the researchers said, “This lays to rest many of the criticisms about gestational diabetes treatment. The critics have said that it isn’t elevated glucose that leads to negative outcomes, it is obesity or maternal age or some other risk factor. But we were able to control for these risk factors, and glucose was still a major determinant of outcomes.”

The researchers have concluded that elevated blood sugar has a direct negative impact on pregnancy and delivery.

If you have type 2 diabetes and are feeling a little down, this new research may give you reason to cheer up. Posted in the journal, Diabetes Care, a research showed that depression, whether mild or severe, can raise the risk of dying in people with type 2 diabetes . It was found that people who have the combination of type 2 diabetes and minor depression have a 67% greater risk of dying. Although, people with both diabetes and major depression have a 130% greater chance of dying, compared to those who have type 2 diabetes alone.

The researchers was done at the University of Washington were they followed 4,154 people who had type 2 diabetes for three years after they filled out a questionnaire screening for depression. In order for a person to be considered depressed, the symptoms had to include depressed mood or loss of pleasure.

It was found that participants with depression were more likely to have two or more complications related to diabetes, to have another medical condition, to smoke, to be obese, and to have been treated with insulin. They were also less likely to be physically active.

During the three years of follow-up, 382 participants died from all causes. A greater proportion of participants with depression died compared to those who weren’t depressed; nearly 14% of those with minor depression and 12% of those with major depression died, while slightly more than 8% of non-depressed participants died.

While the study doesn’t pinpoint the reason the combination of depression and type 2 diabetes appears to be more deadly than diabetes alone, the researchers say the cause could be biological or behavioral. They also said, that changes in brain chemistry and the nervous system which accompany depression could also worsen diabetes outcomes.

Other known symptoms of depression include changes in sleeping and eating habits, lack of energy and changes in activity levels. If you are feeling any of the symptoms of depression or have questions about it, talk to your doctor right away!

The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has approved a new artificial sweetener It is  made from all natural crops such as wheat, rice, corn, potatoes, barley etc. This will become a perfect product for people with diabetes because it has ingredients that can replace sugar in thousands of products. It is produced by creating an enzymatic degradation of natural crops which is then processed and purified. When the process is complete, you are left with an all natural sweetener that looks exactly like honey, tastes exactly like honey, and has the same consistency as honey. It is also available in powder form!

The artificial sweeteners on the market now create a glycemic spike when taken. The new science behind the product does not allow any enzyme in the human body to digest the sweetener, therefore there is no glycemic spike. For people with diabetes this new product will change the way they eat! Diabetes affects an estimated billion people around the world, almost one sixth of the world’s population. Now a diabetic can enjoy the sweet taste of their favorite foods and not have problems because this product is not absorbed into the body by the digestive system. Furthermore, the product has many good health applications to diabetic children and to seniors because the product is pre-biotic and pro-biotic.

The company is now working with some of the largest sugar and ingredient companies in the world and signing NDA agreements with the overall objective of obtaining manufacturing, distribution and marketing license agreements. This will be and great breakthough for all diabetics!

Abbott Diabetes Care announced the availability of the FreeStyle Freedom Lite Blood Glucose Monitoring System. It will offer all the same benefits of the Abbott’s Freestyle, but the newly designed FreeStyle Freedom Lite system provides accurate, reliable results. It will limit the discomfort and inconvenience of glucose monitoring. It will be easier to use by requiring smaller samples and provide faster results.The new FreeStyle Freedom Lite will only require a 0.3 micro liter sample of blood. This makes it the worlds smallest sample size requirement and the least amount of pain. It has one of the largest displays, which makes it easy to read and easy to use. The FreeStyle Freedom Lite Blood Glucose Monitoring System is available with an instructional video and product brochure in both English and Spanish. This system will give people with diabetes a way to help simplify their diabetes management routine. A better diabetes management routine will ultimately lead to improved health.

“Diabetes is one of the most common chronic diseases in children after asthma, but the percentage of kids who have it is still relatively low,” says Parents advisor Lori Laffel, MD, chief of the pediatric, adolescent, and young-adult section at Harvard’s Joslin Diabetes Center. Many parents have misconceptions about the illness. This often keeps them from understanding the best ways to help kids avoid or manage diabetes.

Many parents believe that children who get diabetes are the ones with a weight problem. This is not always the case. In type 1 diabetes the immune system mistakenly destroys healthy cells in the pancreas that produce insulin, the hormone that helps the body get energy from food, and at this time there is no known cause. In type 2 diabetes, the pancreas usually makes plenty of insulin, but cells throughout the body have trouble using it. This creates a condition known as insulin resistance.

Parents need to help their children keep blood sugar at normal  levels. This is the key to a healthy life for your child. Poorly controlled blood sugar levels can lead to a variety of problems, including heart attack, cirrhosis of the liver, blindness, and kidney failure. Fortunately, it takes about five to ten years of poorly controlled blood sugar to cause any of these serious conditions.

So, now is your chance to teach your children how to control blood sugar levels. There are very simple ways to accomplish this. Teach them to eat better, lose weight if needed, and exercise regularly. All these things will help insulin to work more effectively. Of course, if these lifestyle changes are no enough see a pediatrician.

A very interesting trail study has been preformed in Moscow, Russia on four people with type 1 diabetes. They injected pig pancreatic cells into the abdomen of the four patients. The cells were covered in an alginate gel coating. This allowed nutrients to reach the cells and insulin to diffuse out, but this process hide the pig cells from the body’s immune system.

There was quite a big controversy because of the fear that dormant pig viruses in the cells could cause disease. Although, researchers said that no pig viruses have been found in the patients six months later.

Of the four people, one lady was able to suspend insulin injections for five months and when she resumed insulin her doses were less than 20 percent of what she had been taking before. Another man was able to reduce his doses of insulin by 40 percent. However, one of the four patients treatment failed. The fourth patient just received the treatment on March 31.

This study will be worth following for the next couple of years! 

People with diabetes are at a ten times higher risk than normal for developing cardiovascular disease. There has been a study done of ninety-five Diabetes Center and Pediatric Care Clinics in Germany and Austria. There were eight hundred sixty eight subjects studied from age six until they were almost twenty-years-old.

Blood pressure reading was taken at pre-pubertal, going through puberty, and at post-pubertal. It was reported that 4 percent had elevated blood pressure during pre-puberty and puberty. Almost 14 percent had elevated blood pressure during post-puberty.

The research team reported, “Tracking of blood pressure revealed that children with elevated blood pressure had a higher blood pressure in adolescence and young adulthood.”

The goal now is to lower blood pressure early in life. The team’s next study will focus on the efficiency of early intervention for children with type 1 diabetes and diagnosed with hypertension.    

According to findings published in the Journal of Diabetic Care, a biopsy of the bone can help doctors determine what antibiotic is best to treat diabetic patients with serious foot infection.

People with diabetes are often at a higher risk for foot injury because of circulation problems and decreased nerve sensation. A small injury can spiral into a serious skin infection and can extend done to the bone.

This new study compared patients that underwent bone biopsy-based therapy and patients that had a swab-based therapy. They followed up with these patients one year later, which is the average follow up time for this procedure. 81.8 percent of the patients with the biopsy-based therapy had no sign of infection. 50 percent of the patients that had swab-based therapy had no sign of infection.

The research team concluded, “Our results provide arguments for recommending the use of bone biopsy in diabetic patients treated non-surgically.”Although, it has been thought that an infection in the bone could not be treated without removing part of the bone this new study is the begin of a change.